March 14, 2014

The Senate voted 97-0 on Monday, March 10 to approve legislation that would make a half-dozen changes to help combat military sexual assault in the military. The military has struggled with this pervasive problem, and both military and civilian leaders concede it could cost the services the trust and respect of the public and make it harder to attract men and women to serve in the all-volunteer force if it isn’t eliminated.  

The measure – which now heads to the House – comes on top of more than 30 changes that Congress approved and the President signed into law as part of the FY 2014 National Defense Authorization Act just four months ago.   

“Unanimous agreement in the U.S. Senate is pretty rare, but rarer still is the kind of sweeping, historic change we’ve achieved over the past year in the military justice system,” said Sen. Clair McCaskill (D-Mo.), who joined with two Republicans — Sens. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) and Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) — in writing the legislation.  

The newly-passed legislation would change the military rules of evidence to prohibit the accused from using good military character as a defense in court martial proceedings unless it was directly relevant to the alleged crime.   

The provision now moves to the House of Representatives. The legislation could be incorporated into the FY 2015 National Defense Authorization bill that will be drafted in the spring.  

“The entire House is proud of the bipartisan reforms on this important issue included in last year’s defense authorization bill, and we will review this legislation to determine the best way to consider additional reforms in the House,” said Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.  

Some changes have already been made in the Uniform Code of Military Justice.  Last year Lawmakers stripped commanders of the ability to overturn military jury convictions and now requires a civilian review if a commander declines to prosecute a case and requires that any individual convicted of sexual assault face a dishonorable discharge or dismissal.  

The law also provides alleged victims with legal counsel, eliminates the statute of limitations for courts-martial in rape and sexual assault cases and criminalizes retaliation against victims who report a sexual assault.  

MOAA will continue to provide updates as this legislation proceeds in the House this spring.